Anyone using Big Bike Things Interstate Forward Controls?

[vanavyman]

If you have installed these on an Interstate, did you lower the forward pegs on shifter and brake?  I’ve installed a set on my wife’s Interstate and seems like those pegs should be an inch lower to make using the brake and shifter easier to reach.
Thanks,
Dan

[DeathWishBikerDude]

Junk..that some hillbilly came up with.
You'll need to modify everything.
I just disconnected mine..pos..

[MarkT]

I have installed them on Deerslayer and Jade.  Good Idea but execution is wanting.  I used Kuryakyn pegs and clamps and cut off the stanchions for the footpegs they provided.  Also replaced the pull rod on the brake side and the intermediate link rod on the shifter - added Heim joints to both.  Both these installs also have the shifter anchor mod which was incorporated into the BBF mod.  After these mods they work great and never needed adjustment afterward in thousands of road miles.  You need some fab skills and a MIG welder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltgVugCRfFg

Here's the shifter side on Jade.  You can see the anchor mod using the parts from McMaster-Carr as outlined at http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,81509.0.html:



BTW I just returned from Inzane on Jade pulling a trailer for 4400 miles.  No adjustment needed on the fwd controls until I accidentally dropped it on the left side at a gas stop.  Parked it on a downhill grade in neutral, rolled off the sidestand.  Knocked the shifter throw off a mite as it landed on the shifter.  Took me 5 minutes to set it right again using my turnbuckle mod with Heim joints.  Pretty robust, I'd say.

[bill-jr]

Junk..that some hillbilly came up with.
You'll need to modify everything.
I just disconnected mine..pos..

Figures a yankee would bad mouth a good ole’ hillbilly
If a real hillybilly came up with it im sure it would work just fine . . . .

[MarkT]

I didn't know they had hillbillies in New Zealand.

[hubcapsc]

Anywho... there's two kinds, the Interstate kind and the STD/Tourer kind.

I've had the Tourer kind on my bike for years, I think they are awesome.

I don't know anyone who doesn't mod theirs in one way or another, MarkT
modified his the most I know of. I didn't use the curved hiway peg holders,
I set mine up so that they are comfortably reachable from my Kuryakyn
highway pegs. They don't have the same tight feel as the OEM pedals,
but I  think it is deluxe to be able to shift a gear or tap the brakes
from the highway pegs.

-Mike

[MarkT]

Mine are pretty tight with the Heim joints, replaced brake rod (no curves = no flex), shifter anchor mod and I changed the ratios.  Those all reduce slop.

BTW the history of Heim joints is interesting.  From wiikipedia:
The spherical rod end bearing was developed by Nazi Germany during World War II.[1] When one of the first German planes to be shot down by the British in early 1940 was examined, they found this joint in use in the aircraft's control systems. Following this discovery, the Allied governments gave the H.G. Heim Company an exclusive patent to manufacture these joints in North America, while in the UK the patent passed to Rose Bearings Ltd.[2] The ubiquity of these manufacturers in their respective markets led to the terms heim joint and rose joint becoming synonymous with their product. After the patents ran out the common names stuck, although as of 2017 "rosejoint" remains a registered trademark of Minebea Mitsumi Inc.,[3] successor to Rose Bearings Ltd. Originally used in aircraft, the rod end bearing may be found in cars, trucks, race cars, motorcycles, lawn tractors, boats, industrial machines, go-karts, radio-control helicopters, and many more applications.  

You can buy them at some True Value hardware stores in several sizes.  Of course, on line as well. eg, mcmaster-carr.  Installed on both ends of a tie rod with left and right hand threads and a locknut, they make adjustments easy - like a turnbuckle.

[hubcapsc]

The people who lift their trucks and go "wheeling" use heim joints on their
fancy tie-rods and control arms...



-Mike